Girl, 15, fatally shot at Little Rock complex

A 15-year-old girl and 23-year-old man were shot to death in separate incidents Monday as the number of homicides continued ahead of last year's pace.

Police found Ishema Gause, 15, bleeding and shot Monday in the breezeway of Little Rock Apartments, the site in west Charlotte of several shootings and another violent death this year. She died later at Carolinas Medical Center.

Police said the victim and shooter knew each other. Police charged 18-year-old Rashawn Lamar Franks with attempted armed robbery and murder and were looking for him Monday night.

Later Monday, David Obryan Barber, 23, died after being shot. He was found at about 7 p.m. at the Citgo station at 4516 Sunset Road in north Charlotte. Police were seeking a possible passenger in the car.

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Depending on how it's counted, Charlotte's number of homicides this year is at about 70 with the two violent deaths. That compares to 74 homicides all last year, including seven during the last week of December.

Over two days this summer, four young men were shot at the Little Rock complex, located near the West Boulevard-Billy Graham Parkway intersection. Three men, including two 15-year-olds, shot each other in June in an argument in the same breezeway, police said. A teen was killed the next day in a drive-by shooting at the complex.

Little Rock is in the department's Westover Division, a crime-ridden swath of town that new Chief Rodney Monroe has pledged to clean up. Police say they've focused on the 16-square-mile area and pushed down overall crime by 11 percent as of September, compared with the same nine months last year.